Q & A with Tom and Ray 8/26/11

By TOM and RAY MAGLIOZZI

Thursday

Aug 25, 2011 at 2:04 PM

Dear Tom and Ray:

I live in a gated community with lots of speed bumps to deter speeding. I am always amazed at the ingenious techniques people use when they go over speed bumps. There is the one-wheel technique, the diagonal technique and, of course, the old-man (3 mph) technique. I prefer the straight-on-at-20-mph technique. Which way is best for your car? -- Frank

TOM: Well, the straight-on-at-20-mph technique is best for US, Frank. We sell a lot of suspension parts that way.

RAY: But what's best for the car? No question about it: The old-man (3 mph) technique. In fact, we're going to rename that approach the "genius technique."

TOM: When you hit bumps hard, like you do, Frank, you jolt every part of the suspension system. It's like whacking every part in the car with a hammer. And even though cars are built to take a certain amount of punishment, the more they take and the harder they take it, the sooner their parts wear out.

RAY: And what happens to older cars that have taken more than their share of hard knocks like that? They tend to squeak and rattle and chatter their way down the road, dropping occasional parts along the way (see also: any of my brother's heaps).

TOM: Whereas using the "genius technique" and going over a bump like that at 3 mph does practically no damage. The springs and shocks compress gently and absorb the bump, and then they decompress.

RAY: And there's certainly nothing wrong with staying to the right and avoiding the speed bump with your right-side wheels, as long as you combine it with the "genius" 3 mph approach.

TOM: And as long as you don't drive too far to the right, jump the curb and run over someone's prized tulips.

RAY: The same is true for the diagonal approach. It can't hurt, as long as you're going very slowly.

TOM: And besides, when you go 20 mph over speed bumps, you're defeating their whole purpose -- to stop knuckleheads from driving too fast in a pedestrian-heavy area. They're slowing you down for a reason -- so that kids and older folks and everyone else who walks or crosses the street is safer.

RAY: So, because of the damage you can do to your car, and to innocent pedestrians, we're renaming the straight-on-at-20-mph approach the "moron approach," Frank. So we'll leave it up to you to decide which technique you want to be associated with from now on.

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Dear Tom and Ray:

I just found out that cars can use reusable air filters! But that's all I know about them, except that they're more expensive and claim to be more efficient. Do they improve mileage? I love a sensible opportunity to be green, but I wonder if reusable filters work on cars. I use washable filters at home, but my home doesn't go driving along dusty forest roads! I'd appreciate your thoughts or speculative dialogue. -- Tom

RAY: Speculative dialogue? Is that just a nice way of referring to our usual, unsubstantiated BS?

TOM: Actually, reusable air filters are environmentally friendly, Tom. Instead of throwing out your air filter after 30,000 miles, tossing it in a landfill and buying a new one with its own, new set of packaging, you can install a reusable air filter, clean it yourself and use it again.

RAY: They do cost more than throw-away filters. But you can do the math. You figure out how often you normally change your air filter and how long you plan to keep your car, and see if that many throw-away filters cost more than one reusable filter and its cleaning supplies.

TOM: There's a company called K&N that's been making these for several decades. The quality of their filtration is supposed to be quite good.

RAY: With K&N, you remove the filter, spray it with the special air-filter cleaning solvent (by the way, we have no idea if THAT stuff is environmentally friendly, and I'm not sure I'd bet on it), then you rinse the filter with a garden hose. You let it dry, spray some special oil on it, which helps capture dirt, let it dry again and then pop it back in the car.

TOM: FRAM also has come out with a metallic filter, called SynWash, that's even easier to clean. You fill up a bottle with dishwashing liquid, clean it off and pop it back in. And that's it. Unfortunately, we don't know how the FRAM compares with the K&N in terms of filtering ability.

RAY: There are some claims that these filters will increase your horsepower or gas mileage, but I'd take those with a large grain of filtered salt. Certainly, those aren't the main reasons to go this route. The main reason to get a reusable filter is so you can stop throwing away filters.

TOM: And so you have one more excuse on Saturdays to avoid a trip to your mother-in-law's. Now you can say, "Sorry, hon, I have to wash the air filter this weekend."

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Got a question about cars? Email Click and Clack by visiting the Car Talk Web site at www.cartalk.com.

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(c) 2011 by Tom and Ray Magliozzi and Doug BermanDistributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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